Cattle Call®

Feeding for hoof health and fly control

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Feeding for hoof health

Late winter/early spring is usually a time of muddy, sloppy conditions, which can spell trouble for hooves. From cracked hooves to foot rot, poor hoof health takes a toll on your livestock, no matter the species. Wet, sloppy conditions just exacerbate hoof problems, softening them up, making them more susceptible to injury and microbial entry. The best way to combat poor hoof health is to grow a strong, hard hoof in the first place.

How nutrition impacts hoof health

An animal’s diet has a huge impact on hoof quality and overall hoof health. In particular, nutrients such as protein, fat, calcium, zinc, copper and selenium play very important roles. Supplementation of these key nutrients can help your livestock maintain or improve hoof health. Remember, the hoof grows relatively slowly, so it may take months to notice an improvement and can take a year or more to obtain full benefits. CRYSTALYX® Brand Supplement products can help you make sure your livestock get the nutrients they need for healthy, strong hooves.

Independent research has shown time and time again that organic, chelated forms of trace minerals are more efficiently digested by the body and retained in tissues for later use. CRYSTALYX offers CRYSTALYX Blueprint products that deliver organic Bioplex® zinc and copper for cattle. These CRYSTALYX supplements will deliver essential levels of nutrients known to positively influence hoof health.

Take control of fly problems

Fly control is important not only to cows, but also to the people who work and live around them. Nuisance and biting flies are a vector of disease and an irritant.

ClariFly® Larvicide prevents adult house flies, stable flies, face flies and horn flies from developing in and emerging from the manure of treated cattle. ClariFly interrupts the fly life cycle by interfering with the molting process. Larvae die before they can become breeding adult flies.